Noem to NYT: Trump does not offer ‘the best chance’ for GOP in 2024

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) said former President Trump, who just announced his 2024 reelection bid, doesn’t offer “the best chance” for the GOP in the next presidential election cycle. 

“If we narrow our focus there, then we’re not talking to every single American. Our job is not just to talk to people who love Trump or hate Trump. Our job is to talk to every single American,” Noem, who herself has gotten nods as a potential GOP candidate for 2024, told The New York Times.

Noem, endorsed by Trump in her reelection cycle in this year’s midterms, added that the former president isn’t “the best chance” for the party moving forward. 

The South Dakota governor just won a second gubernatorial term but continues to be one of the GOP governors Republicans may now be eyeing to run in Trump’s stead.

Trump declared that he’ll make his third run at the White House just a week after the Republican Party’s disappointing midterm results, but a growing number of key GOP figures are distancing themselves from the former president and calling for another candidate to run.

​​The GOP failed to deliver its anticipated “red wave” during the midterms, failing to take over the Senate and winning the House by a slimmer-than-expected margin. Trump’s favored candidates lost out in a number of key races. 

In Arizona, Trump-backed Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake was defeated by Democratic secretary of state Katie Hobbs after a nail-biter race that wasn’t called until six days after Election Day — just one midterm indicator that Trump’s influence may not be as potent as it once was. 

Trump said last week that he believes he’ll get “very little” credit for helping candidates to victory in the midterms but that his power over the campaigns will still be apparent.